


The Second Night

by NotAdam



Series: Drabbles & AUs [1]
Category: Shaman King (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Gen, Hunger Games, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 01:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20201572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotAdam/pseuds/NotAdam
Summary: After a blackout that eliminated a good amount of players in the arena, Anna finds an unexpected alliance in Yoh and Horo-Horo, as they struggle to survive the second night of the Hunger Games. What could kill her first? The cruel battlefield or the guilt and regret from taking a life to save her own?This piece is a Hunger Games AU created for the Shaman King Discord server, where the characters are not related to the original canon.





	The Second Night

**Author's Note:**

> For context, the prompts were created by a generator that randomly paired characters in districts and decided who lived or moved on to the next round in simple sentences, some events that I mention are other lines from that same 'game', as I followed it until I got to my own prompt. 
> 
> Prompt: Night 2 – Horo-Horo, Anna and Yoh sleep in shifts.

Anna was trying to reach the river when it happened. The fake sun that provided light to the dome was eclipsed, leaving the arena in complete darkness. She climbed carefully to the nearest tree and waited, she was alone and wasn’t carrying any weapons anymore, so she was at a disadvantage. Her combat skills wouldn’t do her any good in the dark, so she kept waiting and waiting, clawing herself to the rough surface of the wood, with nothing but the steady beat of her heart. Waiting for a sound, a creak in the branches or a step on the ground below her… and just as suddenly as it started, it was over. She had survived the Blackout.

She could’ve sworn that she spent hours on that tree, but the position of the sun indicated it must’ve been around 30 minutes of darkness. Before she climbed down she looked around the woods, looking for anything that could resemble a threat, and with a steady pace she continued her journey to the river. She needed to stock on water before finding a place to spend the night. As the sun started to set, the ominous music from the Capitol surrounded her, and a cannon shot could be heard in the distance, it was time for the fallen tributes of the day. The first picture projected onto the sky was a brawny young man from District 5, the second picture...

“No…”

The second picture was Lyserg Diethel, from District 8. She felt her knees tremble and a sudden cold ran down her spine, tears were piling up behind her eyes, clouding her vision as the memories of her slicing him with a sword flashed through her head. The boy had jumped on her trying to steal her supplies, and they got into a fist fight. Anna’s initial alliance had disintegrated earlier that day so she was alone, she had no other choice, she did what she had to… then why did she feel so bad?

A third shot brought her back to her senses, she didn’t look up to see who it was and resumed her walking, fighting against the tears wanting to come out of her eyes. She was a few steps in when there was a fourth shot, and a fifth, and a sixth, each making her speed up her pace more and more until she found herself sprinting through the forest, as if she could escape from the canon shots. She stopped to catch her breath when she finally reached the river, there was something about it that made her think she would be safe, but the Capitol’s song would echo everywhere, no matter where she went. Yet another shot went off in the distance and she couldn’t take it any longer, she couldn’t keep up with all the death around her and collapsed onto a rock to cry her eyes out.

The loudness of the fallen tributes hid her sobbing until the woods quieted down again. She wiped the tears off her face with the sleeve of her jacket, still keeping her gaze down and taking deep breaths to steady her heart rate, comforting herself like she did many times back at home. Because she was Anna Kyoyama from District 11, she didn’t cry, she didn’t break down, and she was going to pull herself back together...

“Don’t move.”

A soft, yet menacing voice startled her, it was coming from behind her and she didn’t dare to turn around. It was over. How could she be so stupid? Taking a seat at the shore of the river, in open ground, with no weapon and no back up.

“I won’t if you back off.”

The second voice was familiar to her, she looked up just a bit and through the corner of her eye she saw Horo-Horo, standing a couple meters away in front of her, pointing a spear towards whoever was behind her. He was staring defiantly at the aggressor but for a brief, almost unnoticeable moment he looked down. Not sure if it was a sign, Anna did the same and noticed he was moving the fingers on his free hand up and down, asking her to stay low.

“Go!” Anna yelled as she dodged, falling face down in the soil.

In that split of a second Horo-Horo threw the spear to the attacker, the weapon flew above her head, barely missing her and making a loud thud as it hit its target. From the ground Anna rolled to her back to face the culprit. He was pinned to a tree and pale as a ghost: Yoh Asakura.

Trembling, Yoh let go of the hatchet he was carrying to reach for his left side, when he realized the spear hadn’t hit him he sighed with relief. Horo-Horo missed his ribcage and he was nailed to the trunk of a tree only by the loose fabric of his jacket.

“Why would you do that?! I was just trying to help you!” He screamed at Anna as the color started to come back to his face, “Geez, that was so close...!”

Horo-Horo walked up to the scene, confused by the other boy’s reaction. “Do you know this guy?” he asked, offering Anna a hand that she didn’t take to stand up.

“He’s from District 1.”

Yoh unpinned himself from the tree and collapsed into the ground, breathing heavily. “That was VERY aggressive!” he complained, looking at Horo-Horo.

“Well, yes! What’s wrong with you, man?!” 

Right after the Cornucopia, Horo-Horo and Anna formed a short-lived alliance with Ren from District 3 and Marion from the 12th, based solely on the fact that they had all managed to grab supplies from inside. Their plan was to hunt for other tributes, but after an ambush at the hands of a larger group, they split and ran in different directions. They didn’t work together for long, but Horo-Horo had proven to be loyal to their alliance and to be an excellent warrior, so she didn’t hesitate to trust him when he came in her defense.

Anna met Yoh back at the Capitol’s training facilities, and while everyone had a secret agenda, he was genuinely kind towards her. The whole week they spent there he would go out of his way to spend time around her or offer his help, she couldn’t understand why he would choose to behave that way in the Hunger Games of all places, but he was ready to fight Horo-Horo thinking he was coming after her, and the least she could do was to vouch for him.

After proper introductions were made the three agreed to team up, they would sleep in shifts that night and keep each other safe. There was barely any sunlight left so the group replenished their water supply and walked into the thickness of the forest, moving fast as the goal was to settle as far from the river as possible. According to Horo-Horo it was safer because everyone would be low in supplies after the Blackout.

Speaking of supplies, they chose not to hunt for food or light a fire, in an effort to keep other tributes off their tracks. Anna picked berries and other fruits along the way, to score something to eat without wasting their precious time.

“How do you know those are not poisonous?” Yoh whispered, helping her grab a fruit by lowering a tree branch.

“I’m from the 11th”.

“Huh?”

“We’re the Agriculture District.”

Horo-Horo scoffed, “Aren’t you supposed to have fancy schools on the 1st?”

“We do more combat training than reading books, really.”

Yoh and his twin brother Hao represented District 1, the richest one in all Panem. It was hard not to notice: their suits were better, their sponsors were richer, and apparently their tributes were stronger. Most of them volunteered every year at the Games and other people referred to them as ‘careers’, because they would prepare for it from a very young age. As they continued walking following Horo-Horo’s lead, Anna remembered the first time she met the twins.

As part of the preparations for the Games, each tribute had to showcase their abilities to possible sponsors at the Capitol’s showroom. She was working on something to show them the day before at the gym along with her team mate from District 11, Kanna Bismarck. The both of them were standing in front of a rack full of weapons: sails, swords, bows and other shenanigans.

Kanna grabbed a tool neither of them had seen before and studied it, confused, “These are not the type of tools I’m used to. What is this? A fancy hammer?”

A chuckle at Kanna’s comment distracted their attention from the weapon, at the other side of the rack was Hao Asakura from District 1, the favorite to win that year’s Games. He was standing tall and proud with a smirk on his face, peeking on them through the empty grills where weapons have been taken away.

“Maybe just grab a stick and try not to hit yourself with it,” he added.

“What did you say?” Anna threatened, as she walked around the rack to confront him.

“Or whatever it is you mine workers use,” he continued.

Hao didn’t care to look her way or even acknowledge her as he put a sword back into the rack, infuriating her. Anna grabbed the man by the forearm, forcing him to face her as she propelled an angry right fist to his face. A fist a nonchalant Hao stopped right before she hit him.

“You’re feisty! I like that,” he said with a smile.

Anna wiped the smile right off his face by slapping him with her left hand, the blow took him by surprise, and was strong enough that the young man released the grip he had on her to tend to his cheek.

“We’re farmers, not miners.”

The loud clap caught the attention of Hao’s twin, who had a pair of big and bright orange headphones while training a few steps behind him. Anna turned around and grabbed a shocked Kanna by the wrist to walk away from the rack and out of the gym. They were almost at the gate when Yoh caught up with them, coming in between the girls and the door, preventing them from leaving.

“I’m so sorry about my brother…”

Anna was brought back to present time by bumping into the younger twin’s back, they were walking in a line led by Horo-Horo, followed by Yoh and then her, at the end. Both of them had stopped as they reached a slightly flatter surface in between a grove of trees.

Yoh turned his face around when Anna bumped on him and smiled. “Careful.”

“This is a good spot, I can’t hear the river anymore,” Horo-Horo said.

Yoh grabbed discarded logs to use as rests for their backs, and Anna divided the berries equally as the three sat down on the ground, facing each other.

“I’ll take the first shift,” Horo-Horo said as he leaned on a log and stuffed a handful of berries in his mouth.

“You can have the second one, Anna, you need to sleep.”

“I don’t need sleep. Or help.”

“It leek like ye did at da rive,” Horo-Horo replied with a mouth full of food.

As hard as it was to understand his statement through the chewing, Horo-Horo was right. If any other tribute had shown up at the river she wouldn’t be there. She had let her emotions take over her mind and she put herself in a very vulnerable and stupid position, but she was not about to admit it out loud.

Ignoring his comment, she bit a piece of fruit and replied dryly, “I’ll take the second shift.”

Yoh giggled at her response and grabbed his canteen, getting ready to take a long sip of water when Horo-Horo tossed a little rock at him.

“Dude, stop!” Horo-Horo exclaimed, as quietly as possible, “you’ll replenish enough electrolytes from the berries, save that for tomorrow!”

Yoh put the canteen down and bit off half of a berry, he directed an amused smile at Horo-Horo as juice dripped down his hand, “Neat!”

“They might train you for battle over at the 1st, but you won’t last if you don’t understand nature, I would know, I’m from District 4,” Horo stated proudly, smirking and stuffing more berries in his mouth. 

She admired the people who were able to feel pride on where they came from, especially in Panem where life was complicated to say the least. She was an orphan from the most impoverished district, people wouldn’t offer you a hand there, as they could barely keep themselves alive to take another mouth into their homes. Anna lucked out when an elderly couple took her in from the streets, they taught her how to climb trees and pick the best fruit to eat, how to work the land and make the most out of the little resources the government left for the population. But most importantly, they gave her as much love as they could during the 4 years they stayed together, before the Capitol took them away from her in a public execution. She couldn’t be proud to come from a place where its people would walk by a starving child on the street, or would conform to death as punishment for taking an apple from a cargo meant for the capital.

“The Fishing District?” Yoh asked.

“That’s the one,” Horo-Horo continued. “We learn to swim before we can read, we’re one with nature and that’s how we survive when the Capitol takes all of our produce away. If we didn’t keep the balance between humans and Mother Nature, those bastards would’ve wiped out all the species from the ocean by now. That is why I have to come back in one piece. I have to help my sister with our father’s boat...”

Anna was listening carefully, but with her eyes lost in a nearby tree. She looked back in their direction when Horo-Horo paused, and noticed Yoh. His usually calm and kind demeanor turned somber at the mention of Horo-Horo’s sister.

“I’m sorry, man. I saw him up there.”

“Don’t be. There can only be one winner after all.”

Anna felt a sudden void in her stomach at the mention of the fallen tributes. She couldn’t force herself to look up at the dome after the second shot, and she lost track of how many there were, because this time around, there were plenty.

Horo-Horo sat back up straight, thoughtful, “We’re all our districts have left.”

“Kanna?” She asked, anticipating the answer by his friend's serious expression.

Horo-Horo nodded, “And my fellow fisherman, Chocolove, too.”

Anna lowered her eyes, this time staring at the berries that sat on her lap… so similar to the ones they picked back at home. She might’ve not known Kanna before the Games, but she was a girl from District 11, just like herself, a girl who had never seen skies beyond the walls that surrounded the fields, fields they probably worked together, without knowing.

“Tomorrow will be a new day,” Yoh smiled, with a grin that while sincere, didn’t match his eyes.

“Keep me safe, will you?” Horo-Horo said, tossing his wooden spear at her.

Without another word he laid on the ground and rolled to his side, turning his back at them. Anna ran her fingers through the roughly polished spear that Horo-Horo had made himself. She was trying to trace the exact strokes he made to form the District 4 symbol engraved on it, hoping it would take her mind off the boy from District 8. She kept seeing him, scared and in pain as she ran away into the woods… and pristine and proud on the picture up in the dome.

“Who was it?” Yoh asked, “You were still covering your ears when I found you by the river, who did you see?”

Anna shook her head and looked away from him, hoping it would discourage him from talking about the subject. Just thinking about it made her feel sick to her stomach, the smell of the blood that started to pour out of him, the sound of her own voice as he jumped on her…

“Hao was the 11th cannon shot. The very last one,” Yoh’s voice shook her out of her thoughts. The fake moon of the arena reflected on a lonely tear that rolled down his face as he looked up to the night sky, “I promised myself I wasn’t going to take any lives during the Games, but something took over me when I saw his face up there… I was out for blood, I wanted someone to pay for it. Anyone.” He made a brief pause and sighed, then a smile returned to his face. “But you were the first person I found. You’re a good person, Anna. I couldn’t just snap your neck or leave you out to your luck with an attacker.”

“I’m not a good person,” she said, in her usual dry tone, “one of the cannon shots, Lyserg Diethel… it was me.” Anna hugged her knees against her chest, as a way of shielding herself from what she was about to say. “I took a life.”

Anna re-lived that moment yet again, of Lyserg on top of her, strangling her. It all happened so fast, she reached out for the sword on the ground and sliced his abdomen without thinking about it. Before she knew it the boy collapsed next to her, bleeding profusely. She could’ve finished him right there, but she chose to run. She couldn’t bring herself to kill someone and still… he didn’t make it through the Blackout.

“No. The Games took a life.” Yoh said. “I realized that when I found you sitting on that rock, you had lost someone too, just like me, like everyone here. I can’t blame my brother’s killer for trying to survive the Hunger Games, just like you can’t blame yourself for choosing to live.”

Anna could feel the sadness from the young man pouring into every word he said, this was someone who had just lost his twin brother to the cruelest game ever crafted by humankind, and just for the sake of entertainment. But there was something reassuring in his expression, a sort of peace that emanated from his presence, perhaps it was his ability to remain calm during a storm or how he could find forgiveness. Perhaps it was just his smile, but being around him comforted her.

“Thank you.” Her tone was demure, serious, as every other word that came out of her mouth was. But she meant it, she wasn’t good with feelings but this was the best she could do to express how much his words had helped her. Yoh dedicated her a warm smile as acknowledgment. It was almost as if he knew what she meant just by looking at her. She felt understood. “You’re always trying to help me,” Anna added, “why?”

“You have a kind heart. It doesn’t matter how hard you try to hide it, I can see it. And it’s worth saving.”

Anna was taken aback by this response, she was trying to come up with something to say back to him, but Yoh giggled in that peculiar fashion of him before she could think about it. He was nervously scratching the back of his head and blushing in a shade of red that was noticeable even under the dim light of the night.

“And I also kinda like you.”

“Really, Yoh?!” She scolded, “do you think it’s appropriate to make those announcements here? We’re in the Hunger Games!”

“Come on, don’t rule it out, Anna, maybe in another universe…”

If they hadn’t been trying to keep a low profile, she would’ve slapped his face off. But she limited it to a deadly stare that made him drop the subject. They sat in silence for what seemed ages, where Anna kept trying to analyze Yoh’s confession, only to be constantly interrupted by him. He would look at her through the corner of his eye, and then not so subtly pretend he was staring at something else when caught.

“Stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Staring at me!”

“Look, I’m sorry for what I said…”

“Don’t be,” she interrupted.

As little as those two words were, they painted a very clear picture of what she meant. She was, in her own way, reciprocating Yoh’s feelings. She felt her cheeks burning red but decided to face the boy anyway, waiting for a reaction. He was smiling like he always was but didn’t say anything, he didn’t have to. There was understanding in the gaze they shared, she would even dare to say that he knew her. Maybe it was true, and she couldn’t hide from him. And for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, Anna smiled back, sincerely and from the heart.

“It’s time to wake him up,” he pointed at the now snoring Horo-Horo.

Yoh crawled over to their friend and shook him gently, but he still gasped and jumped before realizing it was just him.

“Aaaww…” Horo-Horo complained, “so soon?”

His friend stretched before sitting back up, Anna tossed his spear back to him and laid on the ground. The soil wasn’t comfortable but given the situation, it felt like a bed made out of clouds.

“Good night.”

“Good night, Anna,” Yoh added.

“You’re not getting extra minutes for trying to be sweet, just go to sleep,” Horo-Horo said in between yawns.

It had been a long day, while her heart was still filled with questions, fears and regrets, now there was a little ray of light thrown into the mix, just enough to keep her awake until sunrise. But her body was tired from the running, the jumping, the fighting and the crying. As the muscles in her body started to relax, all the worries on the back of her mind disappeared. They disappeared for a couple of hours, but to Anna it felt she had just closed her eyes.

She was awakened by an abrupt shake and yelling, the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Horo-Horo lying dead on the ground, with an arrow through the head. Yoh was standing in front of her, shielding them both with a log from arrows that seemed to come from nowhere.

“Get up, Anna!”

Anna jumped up and took Horo-Horo’s spear, it was still dark and they couldn’t tell the position of the attacker, but the direction of the arrow stuck on the log Yoh was holding indicated they had to be up in a tree.

They rushed backwards into a more populated grove, slow and steady, hiding behind the makeshift shield until the arrows stopped coming. The shooter was going to climb down any minute now that they were out of sight.

“This way!” she pointed.

Yoh tossed the log, with now two arrows stuck in it, “we have to split up, he can’t go after the both of us.”

“No.” Anna grabbed his arm, “come with me,” she commanded.

The conversation was interrupted by a thud, as if something heavy had hit the ground in the near distance, startling Anna into letting go of her grip on the young man’s arm. Yoh held her hand tightly and looked her in the eye, pleading in silence for her to listen.

A new noise, this time closer, made her give up and nod, defeated. He let go of her hand and started running east while Anna, against her better judgment, stood still to catch a last glimpse of Yoh as he got lost between the trees.

Standing alone in the dark would drive anyone insane, but for Anna it felt like home. The loneliness, the despair of not knowing if you’ll make it through the night, the heartbreak of losing someone dear to you... were all too familiar. The system had always worked against her and yet here she was, standing in one piece fighting for her life. 

She stayed still and focused on her surroundings, like she had done while living on the streets as a child. She took in the sound of branches swinging with the wind, the smell of leaves and pines mixed in with wet soil, she felt a slightly cold breeze run through her hair… and there it was: a subtle vibration on the ground. The attacker was approaching slowly in her direction, from her left. She climbed up the nearest tree and waited. A few minutes later she saw a muscular man, with long dark hair walking cautiously while holding a bow and arrow in front of him; Silva, from District 10. With her heart pounding fast inside her chest, she followed his steps from above, watching as he walked right past the tree and wandered south.

When he was out of sight, she jumped to the ground and ran as fast as her legs could run, holding Horo-Horo’s spear tightly in her right hand, clenching her teeth. She had survived before, she could do it again, because her heart was worth saving and because this time around she had a very powerful weapon, she had hope. This time, the odds would be in her favor.

**Author's Note:**

> If you got here, thanks for reading! And if you must know, Anna won the hunger games in this simulator!


End file.
